But Chicago Police have disputed those criticisms, saying it is a common misconception that Chicago has the country's strictest gun control, and the department's officials have contended that gang members face worse sanctions from their gangs for losing a gun than they do by the courts for illegally possessing one.

The Chicago Police Department wants harsher penalties for repeat gun offenders, but critics have said Chicago's gun laws are too strict with too few results. View Full Caption

“What they fail to recognize is we don’t have strict gun laws that hold people accountable,” Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said of critics.

So, is Chicago the strictest?

Our regulations are actually similar to those of other major cities, said Roseanna Ander, the founder and executive director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab. The Crime Lab works to reduce violence through scientific analysis and research.

Even in the past, when Chicago had tougher gun regulations, its handgun ban was rivaled by the "restrictive gun laws" of New York and the "onerous" process to get a permit and have a gun in Los Angeles, Ander said.

Here's a timeline of recent changes to Chicago's laws:

• June 2010: Chicago's ban on handguns was ended by the Supreme Court in the McDonald v. Chicago case

• December 2012: Illinois' concealed carry ban — the last of its kind in the United States — ended in a court decision, though the state still restricts where people can carry concealed guns

• July 2013: The Firearm Concealed Carry Act went into effect, providing regulations for concealed carry

While it's difficult to compare laws between major cities (especially since some of the laws come from the state), here's a chart that explains the basics of gun laws if you're in Chicago, Los Angeles or New York City. In some cases, New York City and L.A. do have tougher laws on the books:

Chicago

Los Angeles

New York City

Buying guns

You need a Firearm Owner Identification card to buy rifles, shotguns and handguns. You do not have to register guns you own.

You need a Handgun Safety Certificate. The state registers gun sales and serial numbers.

You need a permit to buy rifles, shotguns and handguns. You have to register guns you own.

Open carry

No

No

No

Concealed carry

Chicago now allows concealed carry, though there are restrictions: You must be approved for and receive a license, and you cannot concealed carry in prohibited areas like schools, for example.

Chicago Police have said for years that Chicago needs tougher gun control laws and sentences to decrease crime. Guglielmi, the department's spokesman, has said the department has identified and arrested people who are responsible for the city's violence, but there's more work to be done.

"The largest obstacle remains the lack of serious repercussions for those we arrest for repeated gun crimes," Guglielmi said in an emailed statement. "As we move forward, in addition to continued targeted enforcement of gang members, Superintendent [Eddie] Johnson will continue calling for policymakers and others to join the fight against crime by creating a stronger culture of accountability for repeat gun offenders."

Guglielmi previously said Chicago Police are focused on holding violent offenders responsible by "building the strongest prosecution possible against" those accused of gun crimes, he said. They're looking at where guns are coming from and how they're transferred, and seeing if they can make additional arrests based on that information.

From Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2015, there were 2,477 people arrested on gun charges, Guglielmi said. Of those, more than 600 had been arrested before on weapons charges.

Here's a breakdown:

• Two arrested had five prior arrests on weapons charges

• Six had four priors

• 28 had three priors

• 132 had two priors

• 460 had one prior

Source: Chicago Police

"The criminal justice system has to step up," Guglielmi said. Chicago should "have zero tolerance on gun crime. If an individual has documented criminal history, especially a felon, this individual should not be out in society walking around with a gun."

The police have implemented a sometimes-controversial program that looks at the victims and suspects in gun crimes, and tries to estimate how many lives could have been saved if gun sentences were harsher and the suspect had been in jail for an earlier gun crime instead of on the street and able to re-offend, Guglielmi said.

Also, many of those arrested on gun crimes become murder victims themselves, but the department says that wouldn't be the case if they had been locked up longer on the original charge in the first place and not on the street.

In those cases, police estimate, 437 people would not have been a victim of gun violence between 2012 and September 2015, he said.

"Essentially what that is, is people are held accountable for their gun crimes," he said.

Ander, of the U. of C.'s crime lab, said changes in Chicago's violence — up or down — can't be attributed solely to the city's gun laws, strictest or not. Ander contends that Chicago's gun violence is affected by regulations in surrounding communities, like Indiana, where gun laws are more lax (Chicagoans have been known to get their guns from Indiana).

"It's very hard for a city in and of itself to unilaterally regulate its way out of the gun violence problem," Ander said. "Somebody once described it as, 'We're as strong as our weakest link.'

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that a city in and of itself doesn't have all of the ... levers that it would need to address the gun violence problem, that it's really going to be affected by the region and what the laws are in other parts of the region," she said.